Saria's Song
by Zellie
Summary: Wow...it's been a long time...anyway, this is by me and Marin. It's not quite a poem, not quite a story. Actually, it's a journal from Saria's pov. R


A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything Zelda. Well, this is by me, Zellie, and Marin (she came up with the original idea.) It's very different from a usual fic, more like a really long poem in a way. Saria's pov. Enjoy, and please review. I'll be your friend forever, I swear.... Oh right, anyone who reads my HP stuff, I'm working on a fic right now, it'll be up soon, hopefully...

  
  


If just one person would cry if you left them, cry if you were hurt, cry if you died, then your life has had meaning. I've always wanted to believe in that, never have though; until today. 

Can I push past the boundaries? Will I? Did I ever? 

To help those who have been scorned by others, I can and I will. To befriend those who are different. Or just far away. Like the new boy in the forest, Link. Strange, but his name is even different from the other names. Not of the forest whispers, but of something greater. Maybe the skies that have always been out of my reach. 

I feel like this friendship will hurt me in some way, but more so I think I'll gain something from it. And all pain heals in time, and as I may heal from any hurt, our friendship will tighten, expand, and grow. In time, everything grows, everything changes.

  
  


Jealousy. Logic. Frustration. When...? It must be so hard to be without a friend in the world. That's why I'm here, to befriend those without friends. At least that's what I like to think. Sure, everyone thinks that I live an idealistic life. But I don't, for no one does. There's always something that could improve. For me, I'd like to _live. _ Outside the forest, away from here. I want to experience so many things, things I've only heard of. Only dreamed of...only wondered...

  
  


Can you feel it? This new sensation that echoes within every breeze? I feel it. It's wrong. It shouldn't be here. I'm afraid. The sky is darker, the air is colder, and I can sense the arising danger. I wish I knew what it all meant. Nobody else seems to notice it. Except Link. He keeps telling me that he's been having nightmares. Every morning he wakes up looking feverish, with dark circles under his eyes, and I worry for him. I find that I can't sleep myself because I'm so scared. Why do I feel this way? 

The others can let life pass by, taking it day by day. Me, I have to grab every opportunity as it comes. I have to notice every change around me. And in each change I find an answer to some new, unknown question. That one means fear, this one hurt, this one is for hope. 

I feel this newfound danger, and I also feel the approaching hope. I have no idea what any of it means, but I'm sure it means something. It has to. 

  
  


I awoke this morning feeling sick. Feverish and hot, and nerved for something. I shook it off, and went to visit Link as I most always do. And for once, he looked happy. Now that I think of it, I don't know if I've ever seen him crack a smile. Guess he just doesn't have anything to smile about. But he did this morning: for a faerie came to him.

Curious...

Why did he suddenly get a guardian? Why has he never had one before this? It has something to do with the wind change, something to do with all the subtle changes that are now arising. I guess only time will tell the answers, I guess only time can ask the questions.

  
  
  
  


I knew Link was different from us. I knew that he surpassed all of us in some way. But I never guessed his true purpose in the destiny of Hyrule. Never does the Deku Tree speak with his forest children...but to be summoned? To actually be asked to speak with him? I never fathomed such an honor. Yet Link shook it off, as if he knew this would happen, as if he sensed it would happen.

It scares me. I have no idea why. I know I should be glad for Link, that he's found a place, and that he's finally receiving the true recognition he deserves. But in this, I feel that in the future we'll both change. We'll change because of what's happening right now, and what will happen in the days that follow. He left over an hour ago, and I hear no more voices from where he stands. Just silence, and an approaching danger. I fear for him, I fear for me, and I fear for all of Hyrule.

  
  


I am completely alone. I have no one. I once heard that the bravest thing one can do is to simply cry, but I never believed it. I still don't. Only a coward cries, and I refuse to be afraid any longer. No, I don't know what happened with the Deku Tree, only that Link was gone for days on end. No, I don't know what they spoke of, only that afterwards our guardian passed. And I don't know what's happening, only that we are all going to suffer somehow.

As I have. Only this morning did I suffer. And for once, I feel hate. I always wondered what it felt like, and now I know. I hate this unknown force that took my one true friend from me. That made him leave me, and our forest, to travel Hyrule's plains and explore its unknown waters. The hardest thing to do is to say goodbye. Most say it's a bitter-sweet word. They're all wrong, it's only bitter. I gave him a piece of me, an ocarina, but I fear that he'll forget me somehow. He's afraid as well, I know it. He didn't know how to say goodbye, simply running from me. But I know that he'll play it when he's alone. He'll play when he's afraid. And he'll play when he's hurt. And the melodies will sooth his wounds, comfort his heart, and heal his very soul, as my ocarina does for me.

  
  


How long has it been that I've sat in solitude now? I've lost count. I have no where to go, I have no reason to live, and I have no one to love. So be it. I'll live alone, with no one but the spirits of the forest to befriend me. I will not say goodbye, and I will not tell anyone where I am going, or even that I am going at all. They can regret that they'd never known the real me, the true image that I see reflected in the water every morning. They all see an eternal child, never aging, always carefree. Not the darkness locked within me, the secrets, the lies. No one shall ever see that. Only Link could see that, and with his leaving me, my inner pain is forever hidden. 

I will sit in the meadow all day. I'll sit very still, and I'll play my ocarina. The forest will come alive within me. My harmonies will be sweet, and full of the essence of life. And someday, again will I laugh.

  
  


Listen to the mysterious song, that leads you ever deeper into the forest. Soon you will become lost if you cannot hear its tune. That's my song, Saria's Song. That's my final goodbye to my innocence, my past, my Link. Playing my song with him made all my troubles ease, some of them vanished. I couldn't tell him of my pain, he does not need more of a burden. Again and again, play the song and we can talk anywhere, anytime. Let his turmoil end, let his soul be free, and let us play together once more.

  
  


Above me there is a temple. I cannot reach it, for it is far too high. But I wonder what it is there for, this vacant stone doorway, leading to a new world. Another world. And so I sit, clinging to the loose forest vines, and I swing. Back and forth, around and around, just out of the reach of reality...

  
  


It's colder out then it used to be. By night, I hear the screams of the Kokiri, their sobs and calls for a savior...

And in my snobbery, I hold my ears. I don't want to hear of their agony if I cannot cease it. I can't stand this life that I am living. I do not know what's happened to the boy once called Link. And I cry. Night and day I simply wail, hearing my own sobs echoing through the darkened forest. It's pathetic. I shouldn't weep. I am cowardly to do so. Time and Time again I tell myself, Saria, be brave...time and time again...be brave...

Have I grown as these solemn years have passed? Have I changed as the wind did? Have I allowed myself to be soiled by my solitude? I wonder...Yes, I have changed, but I will never grow. That is something that I must face, and yet I don't want to accept it. I don't want to be a child forever. I don't know why I feel this way, but I mourn every day for my loss of aging. I'll never be an adult, I always be a child, just an innocent, carefree child. Carefree forever...I wish...

  
  


I don't know what to do. Help me. I need to be heard by someone. Hear me. I need to be held, told that everything will work out. Hold me. Why am I alone? 

Today I stood, and for the first time in years, I walked away. Away from the meadow, determined to be free forever. But it was not to be. Nothing I want is or will ever be meant to be.

I don't know what happened in the years that I trapped myself in those woods. Immoral traps now clog the forest paths. Wicked creatures now roam the trees and soar the skies. Guards armed with weaponry and sheathed in metal scavenge the roads. And so I ran. I didn't know what else to do. I ran away from them all, back to the meadow. And I prayed. So hard did I pray, that things would all work out. That I may have my life back once more. My tears will deter evil, my songs sweeten the pain and destruction, and my voice will call for barriers around the meadow. But who will save me? Who is left for me, Saria of the Kokiri?

  
  


Every morning now...what is this sensation? I awake, curled on the smooth mahogany of my stump, and before me is a light. Cerulean blue, erupting from the ground. I step towards it, my hand scratching its surface. It's cool and soft, like a jet of the purest water. I take a step nearer, my body ready to step inside this ring of light...

Then I wake up.

  
  


I wonder...

How do the days continue to pass? I have no memories of the last seven years, and yet the days still go by. How can time pass without memories? And how can I live without hope? I want a ladder, so tall that it reaches over every tree in the forest. I'll climb it, so high that I never reach the top. And there will be friends all around me, people I once knew. And they'll remember me. Talk to me. Atop the ladder. Within my dreams. 

  
  


Something strange happened this morning. I saw the light again. So I stepped near as I always do. My hand touched it, feeling it ripple beneath my touch. I stepped inside...

And it began to lift. I didn't awake. It was real this time. And I stepped out, scared of the outside. I'm not ready for this...I'll _never_ be ready for this.

  
  


I am different, and my true role will soon be revealed. It echoes in my mind over and over, burns right into my soul. I wonder what it means. I always thought of myself as a girl with a talent for finding her way through the forest, and playing the ocarina. I guess my true path will be found some time soon. Even though I never touch the blue light these days.

  
  


Tomorrow. I will awake and step inside that light. Because I can't hold onto this solitude forever. And I can't find hope in anything anymore. The trees are all the same, though they used to tower above me and shelter me. The sky is still out of my reach, though every day I stretch my self out. The grass is now as hard as the ground, not a carpet beneath my feet. Tomorrow I will reach the sky, carpet my feet, and once more be sheltered.

  
  


What's happening is enough to make me doubt my sanity. Half the time I think I'm dreaming, and that I will soon stir, and awake. But then I pinch myself, and it hurts. So I can't be asleep. It's all real.

I did enter the light. I didn't step out. And it _did _reach the heavens above. I don't remember much about my path to this new place, because I blacked out rather quickly when we actually took to the sky. At one point, I tried to escape, but I found myself trapped in this bubble of air and light. It was scary, but also intriguing. Because when we stopped I was seated on a round platform. On it was a symbol showing a tree. The air was filled with haunting melodies and glimmering voices. My own voice expanded in the air, trilling through the space about me. And where I am is still a mystery, because the title means nothing.

The Chamber of the Sages.

I am not alone. Over and over I repeat this to myself. There are five others with me, and a seventh who cannot be revealed. I am playing a role in all of Hyrulian history. I am building the foundation of our land, and ensuring that there will be a future. Here, I am but a child, and am treated as one. Still, I cannot help but to enjoy it at times. At least I have friends, and know that others are as lost as I am. Impa, sage of shadow. Nabooru, sage of spirit. Darunia, sage of fire. Ruto, sage of water. Rauru, sage of light. And I am Saria, sage of the forest.

  
  


Who is this chosen one that they all speak of? Why am I to help him in his quest to save Hyrule? How can I help him? I don't want to be a sage any longer, I only want to be a Kokiri, to run free once more through the fields and woods. They all say that I can't ever return to my old life. My bygone life. My past life. It's all gone...eternally gone...

  
  


I knew it! I knew Link was different, and I knew that he would walk his path in life alone. From the beginning of this dark chapter in Hyrule's history, I knew Link would be in it, and change it for all of us. And so I learned of his past, that he to will soon know. That he's not Kokiri, but Hylian. That a desert thief, killed and ravaged his family and home. And that his mother died to save him, and gave him to the Deku Tree in hopes of giving him a chance at life along with it. I knew some, and now I know more. That of his past, and of his future. To tackle dungeons and fight terrible creatures in order to restore life in Hyrule. And he doesn't have a choice, just as I don't have a choice. For I am the eternal sage of forest, and he will forever be the Hero of Time.

  
  


Watch him as he hurts. See him as he bleeds. Cry for him when he falls. That's what I have to do. Because I cannot escape from this chamber where my destiny lies. Though Link is fighting through the Forest Temple to rescue me, I cannot warn or rescue him. It's not fair. Every time a stone crumbles from a wall, I wince, fearing that something has happened to him. When a ghost fires an arrow at him, I close my eyes, for I can't bear to see him burning. When he stumbles, and falls from a vine, I turn away so I don't hear the crunch of his bones on the floor. And there's nothing I can do about it anyway.

  
  


Fantasy always seems to outlive reality for me. The fiendish monster that has been molesting my forest and home was defeated only moments ago. It was not some ugly, deformed, bizarre creature though. It was a phantom. A ghost of the very essence of evil. Of Ganondorf. The one patrolling and helping this downfall. I can't help but wonder how Link pulls that courage from his soul and fights such a thing. I wouldn't know what to do. 

But now he's gone, and I will see Link again. I don't know what I'll say to him, for all the words in all the lore and books could not say my feelings aloud. But I'll know that I have helped him in his quest, and therefore it will all be worthwhile.

  
  


You've changed, Link. You are not the Kokiri child I used to know. You are no longer small and innocent. You have been scarred and pained. You are not a child. You are a man. And in all this, I still know you. I still realize that you're the same inside. The weaponry and cloth, the blood and cuts, nothing can disguise that. I still have to come to grips with my own emotions. My hurt that we'll never meet again, that this was my final goodbye. It didn't seem that way, but it now does. But most of all, I have to admit to myself that...

Link's always been my friend, and I liked him a lot. Somehow I thought things would end differently then this. I've always felt so....strange around Link. But I don't anymore. I see that he's become a man, when I am still an eternal child. This is my goodbye.

  
  


Every day I watch every movement and hope in Hyrule's salvation. Because there's nothing new and exciting up here. My life was always so fascinating though I never realized it. I had many friends back then. They all listened to me, admired me. Not for what I would become, but for what I was. Their leader, who would do anything for them. Can they hear me now? Do they ever wonder when Saria will return to them? Why Saria used to cry? Do they ever whisper far into the night of where Link has gone to? Do they ever want to repent the hurt that they caused him? Do they care?

  
  


Only days are left until the final test of courage. Only moments are to pass until the ultimate showdown. And I wonder...is it all worth it? All this pain and hurt? What would happen if Link refused...if he just turned around? 

Well, I'll know soon, and yet I'll never know. I have faith, that's the only thing I still have after all of this. And I'll keep it forever.

  
  
  
  


I think I'm going mad. I swear it these days. I don't seem to be fully aware anymore, and I can't stand being confined to this dark chamber. It's my fate to stay here, and I pledge never to go against fate...but sometimes....

I'm so lost and alone. I just don't know. What if I spend eternity here, just sitting and watching, but never _being_? I really don't think I could stand that. What if tomorrow I just told everyone that I didn't feel like being here, and then I just walked off and never returned? I think that's how I'll pass the time, just dreaming about when I'll leave this place...

  
  


We're free. All of us are free. I can't believe it! I have to write it again and again to make sure it's reality. We're free. Finally. Link's free, the princess is free, the sages are free, and me, I'm free. Free to leave this place. I'll go outside again and taste the wind against the my skin, smell the fresh air and trees...it's unbelievable. I mean, I can't believe that this really happened. It just goes to show that with courage you can do anything. Power will only give you just that: force and might, potency and value...but courage, that's something that dwell's in so few nowadays.

Power gave Ganon the strength to continue when Link defeated him once. It gave him a second chance at living and killing. But with bravery, Link won both times, because it never runs out, unlike power. So soon, I will be away from the dark chamber, out in the warm sun once again. I think I'll scream and cry, just to be sure it's all not some dream.

We're free.

  
  
  
  



End file.
